Broken Loose
by Turtle Roadkill
Summary: This story is multi-part and a WIP. Drum and Axia decide to explore in the forest nearby town one boring day.


"I'm boooored," Drum groaned as he lay on the couch in the living room, staring up at the ceiling. Axia sat by his feet. This had been at least the fifth time Drum had protested; he had good reason to. Gao was vacationing with his friends, and the trip was strictly "humans only." - They only had Yamagitsune to blame for that.

"Well, maybe we should do something instead of sitting here. There has to be something a monster can do in this town," Axia explained again, though he didn't move from his seat. He'd suggested this to Drum several times already, but neither dragon even stood up until now. Drum sat up and stretched his arms, jumping off the couch, his armor clinking.

"Let's go, then," he muttered half-heartedly, waddling towards the door. Axia quickly tailed, jumping from his seat, and they both left the Mikado residence. "I guess we can go exploring," he suggested, leading out to the main road. "There's a forest down there I've been aching to see." The dragon raised a claw and pointed to the wilderness just outside of the city.

"Should we tell someone we're leaving?"

"Nah, it's good." Drum waved off the question and began to make his way in the direction of the foliage.

Axia had no choice but to follow, tagging along behind the red dragon. The walk was surprisingly short as it was mostly downhill, and there were few pedestrians on the sidewalk on which the dragons walked. There was a dirt path perpendicular to the end of the road they followed; it seemed to vanish into the looming trees after a few feet.

"Ooh! Let's go!" Drum shouted excitedly, this expedition clearly lifting his spirits and curing his boredom. Again, Axia tailed him along the narrow dirt road that curved around trees and seemed to move in random directions from time to time. He'd expected this to be creepy and unsettling, but the sun lit the area well, and all that could be seen was a beautiful pallet of browns and greens and a few bursts of colour here and there. Axia lost himself in the scenery; there was nothing like this back in Magic world! He followed Drum as they wandered aimlessly into the beautiful forest, captivated by what Drum thought were just a bunch of dumb trees. The scenery in Dragon World was very similar to what surrounded him now.

The pair of small dragons waddled around the forest for most of the afternoon, and they didn't stumble upon anything overly exciting. They had played with a few insects they had found and had never seen before, and scratched the bark off of a tree to see what was underneath, but that only kept them occupied briefly.

"Is there nothing interesting in this place?" Drum stopped walking suddenly to speak, causing Axia to bump right into his back, and the dragons stumbled, Axia landing on Drum's back in a small heap.

"O-oops!" Axia gasped, quickly standing. "I didn't h-hurt you, did I?"

Drum grunted but lifted himself up and dusted his armor. "No, I'm fine." He seemed a bit angry, and Axia sure noticed.

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry Drum, buddy!" he pleaded.

"Shut-up!" Drum shouted, now verbally angry. Axia fell silent. "I need to figure out where we are now." He scanned the trees, trying to look for something he recognized before they fell. There was nothing, and he sighed. "We're lost now."

"O-oh, um…! I think we came from that way!" Axia pointed off in the direction behind him.

"We might have gotten turned around," Drum clarified, but he started off in that direction anyway. Axia followed behind once more, though a bit further away, afraid he may kill Drum's mood again. They travelled for a minute in the off direction Axia had pointed in, noticing a clearing just to their right.

"Hey, look!" Axia shouted and began to run towards the break in the trees. Drum grumbled something and took off after the blue dragon so they wouldn't be separated. They dodged trees and stumbled into the clearing, which had a beautiful waterfall with a small pond underneath; the small "shore" where they emerged was full of soft green grass. The water appeared was pure and clear, running over the brownish rocks in such a way that the sun glinted off of it and displayed a vivid rainbow.

The dragons stared for a moment; they had no idea something so pretty was so close to home! Axia took the initiative and stepped carefully up to the pond, looking down and examining it. It shimmered in the afternoon light, but it was visible right to the bottom, which was only earth. Without hesitation, Axia threw his robes off and leaped into the cool water. He submerged briefly, resurfacing with his wet blonde hair sticking haphazardly along his face.

"Drum! You GOTTA come in here!" He beckoned for his buddy. Drum trudged over and stripped away his armor along the way, easing into the water. He wasn't expecting much; Axia tended to overexaggerate.

"Oh, man. This IS nice!" He dropped in and hit the soft pond bed, swaying his arms around to feel the water. The dragons were submerged up to their chins, just staring at each other for a moment as they acclimated to the situation.

Axia suddenly had a mischevious smile spread across his face, and he raised his arms up, pushing some water at Drum in a short wave. He took the challenge, smirking and splashing back, turning his head to the side in preparation for an all-out war. The dragowizard wasn't giving up yet, splashing like Drum was expecting, and soon they began their water war, each wave getting larger and larger, and the dragons laughed louder and louder. Axia was the first to shield his face with his arms, accepting defeat. Drum cheered and raised his arms in victory, leaving himself open for the blue dragon to get the final splash.

The red dragon dove forward and dunked his buddy briefly, laughing uncontrollably. "You got me!" he admitted as Axia surfaced. The blue dragon joined in the incessant giggling almost immediately as well. They died down after a few more seconds, grinning at each other.

Axia leaned backwards and closed his eyes, kicking his feet lightly to pedal towards the waterfall and pseudo-beckon the other dragon. Drum watched and made fake swimming noises by splashing the water, just waiting for Axia to go right under the falls. His wishes did not come true as the blue dragon realigned upright right in front of it, catching Drum in his act.

"I thought we might look manly under this!" Axia yelled over top of the sound of the water, and he swam behind the waterfall, flexing his small muscles behind it. It was comical, even for Drum, who wanted to test it out for himself and quickly joined his buddy behind the waterfall, showing off his significantly larger biceps.

"Armor dragon thing," he bragged, tightening both his arms and his chest. The dragowizard blushed and frowned, attempting to match his buddy's poses to no avail. He gave up eventually, swimming to the other end of the pool and climbing out, sitting on the edge. Drum still exhibited himself behind the falls, seeming proud of himself for beating Axia.

The blue dragon flopped onto his back, his head hitting the soft grass, and he soon heard the armor dragon splash around, sitting next to him. "You still looked manly," Drum complimented quietly. Axia withheld a response, sitting up again and staring into the water.

Floating above their heads, Rouga - disguised as Wolf - chuckled and brushed his hair with his fingertips. "Gao's not around? Get them," he ordered to his hulking Armor Knight Cerberus.


End file.
